 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
Nostalgia
2009-03-01 14:14:00
Remember...
Question: Can you tell me about your memories of Paul Harvey?
Answer: I sure can. We recently lost one of the greats. Paul Harvey was an important part of many of our lives. His unique way of delivering the news and timely effective pauses made him stand out from all the rest. Paul Harvey could make a commercial, for one that was sold in his broadcast, sound like it was news….then he would sell the product. This was not only my own observation, but one shared by another great news man that I had the privilege of sharing the microphone with on a couple of local stations, George Gow.
George told us how he had worked with Paul Harvey in their younger years at a station in Milford, Kansas that was owned by Dr. Brinkley. They sold one of Brinkley’s discoveries on the air that was particularly of interest to older men. George said Paul was fun to be around and always had a smile.
I never had the privilege of meeting him personally, but I was trying to book him for a broadcasters’ dinner and he called me one afternoon on the phone. He said in his very friendly way…like he had known me for years….HI, FAYE. I had answered on the news line and many of the local announcers would call me and joke with me in a different voice. I said, “Who is this?” He answered, “This is Paul.” I said, “Paul who?” He said, “Paul Harvey.” That was the way he was, like he had known me for years.
I will relate one story that I heard him do on his afternoon newscast. He said that an incident had occurred at 2nd and Main streets in Wichita. The telephone company had an office on the southeast corner and across the street was the Northern Building. A man raised a window on the second floor of that building...and stepped out on the ledge. The employees across the street at the telephone company thought he was going to jump and called fire, police and ambulance to the location. As all of this emergency equipment started to pull up in the intersection, this man would lean over. Some of the fireman ran up, grabbed the man, pulled him back inside and threw him on the floor to save him. He told them, “I am a window washer and I was leaning over to see what all the excitement was.” And in Paul’s usual slow, calm voice, he said, “And now you know the rest of the story.”
Well, he was one of the greats. We will miss him tremendously. And as he would close each segment, he would say, “Good day!”
Good day to you Mr. Harvey.
